Dublin cleric calls on pope to discuss sexual abuse ahead of visit

Dublin - The Archbishop of Dublin called on Pope Francis to speak openly about Catholic structures that facilitate sexual abuse on Sunday, a week before the first papal visit in Ireland in four decades.

Diarmund Martin, who is hosting Francis next week, described the number of sex abuse victims at the hands of Catholic clerics as "immense" and said the pontiff must "speak openly about our past, but also about our future." Francis will arrive in Dublin on August 25 to attend the World Meeting of Families, which takes place every three years. Francis is expected to draw significantly smaller crowds than John Paul II did during the last papal visit in 1979, when over 2 million people attended events around the country.